The following are some tips for creating relevant content in our content model:

• Identify user goals and validate them with your users

• Keep the sentences simple that your user can read once and understand

• Trim the fat:

  • Use active voice—find the true subject and verb to improve clarity

  • Remove unnecessary adjectives and adverbs

  • Remove redundancy

  • Use one word instead of many

• Rewrite and restructure existing content as it transitions to XML to remove unnecessary content

• Remove “glue” text:

  • No transitional text between topics

  • No mini TOCs at the start of components, unless required for context-sensitive help

  • No stem sentences in tasks

• Eliminate unneeded introductory explanations. Write only the overviews that users need

• Do not explain what’s obvious

• Do not present the entire screen image, crop the required portion of the image

• If there are more than one way, explain the most common way

• Layer the information for different users (progressive disclosure)